The New Year's Old Resolutions

The New Year’s Old Resolutions

“When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed- Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.” Ecclesiastes 5: 4-7 (NKJV)

So, we are well into the New Year and I was wondering how many of you made “New Year’s Resolutions”? The first Saturday of this New Year I had done a devotional at Men’s Breakfast on making vow’s and oath’s being Christian men. I had a top ten list that the Associated Press put out but I’ll spare you guys that. No one really keeps it or keeps a record if anyone keeps it so it doesn’t matter. I will, however, share with you this morning on some of what I spoke about that Saturday morning.

In the Book of Genesis 28: 18-22, we find Jacob making his conditional promise to be faithful to God based on what God has promised to him. And like his grandfather, Abraham, he promises a tenth of his possessions to God. Abraham made this same promise to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God. We need to recognize three things about Jacob here, his faith, his moderation in asking for his desires and his piety. His regard to God appear in what he desired, he knew that God would be with him and that God would keep him.

Then there is verse I started off with in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The Teacher comes right and pretty much says, “Don’t try to bribe God with a hasty vow. Because what will happen is either a priest, prophet or one of God's angels as the “messenger of God” will be the one to hold you accountable and have to listen to your excuses for an unfulfilled vow.”

When you make your vow rashly, you suffer your mouth to cause your flesh to sin. This example supposes a man coming to the priest, and pretending that his vow was made rashly, and that it would be wrong to fulfill it. This mockery of God will bring Him displeasure, which might make things worse for this man. We are to keep down the fear of man and set God before us. If you don't intend to pay, don't vow in the first place. The Teacher knew man's tendency to strike a bargain with God when caught in a tight and desperate situation.

In the New Testament we can read where Jesus spoke of making oaths while He gave His “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5:33-37. Jesus wanted to convey that honest men do not need to resort in the making of oaths. For the Christian man, an oath is unnecessary. His Yes should mean Yes, and his No should mean No. Jesus did not want us to find it necessary to introduce our promises by some fancy use of words that may sound like this, “I swear by the archangel Gabriel and all the heavenly host.” or how about this “I swear on the Holy Bible”…”The only reason we do this “oath-taking” is that we know our simple word is not likely to be trusted so we try to induce or persuade people to believe us by making a solemn oath. Oath taking is really a pathetic confession of our dishonesty.

So this morning let us be mindful of promises we make to others no matter how small they are. We are held to a higher standard because of the relationship we maintain in Christ Jesus. The Bible is full of God’s promises and He hasn’t broken anyone of them. In Genesis 3:15 He made an awesome promise of a coming Savior to redeem a fallen world and from that moment forward (Hebrews 6: 13) He has maintained the certainties of His promises. -- Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter

DIGGING DEEPER: Proverbs 6; Exodus 39-40; Matthew 23:23-29

DIG THIS QUOTE: "How sad to see those relations who should quicken one another to that which is good, hardening one another in that which is evil! And this punishment was in reality mercy to vast numbers. It would cause strict self-examination, prayer, and dread of hypocrisy, covetousness, and vain-glory, and it should still do so. It would prevent the increase of false professors. Let us learn hence how hateful falsehood is to the God of truth, and not only shun a direct lie, but all advantages from the use of doubtful expressions, and double meaning in our speech.” Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, Matthew Henry

DETERMINED DIGGING: Level 1 -- Psalm 16:8; Level 2 -- Psalm 23